The Last Night Under the Seven Seas
(Quidam POV)
I curled up on the floor, my arms in chains and aching. It was bitterly cold here. I heard voices yelling just outside the door, but I could not bear to hear the words.
How had I gotten here?
Only a few weeks ago I had been a lowly town doctor. I had tried my best to be a good father to my three children. I had tried to deserve to be married to a beautiful woman. Amphitrite. My beautiful Amphitrite.
But this started so long before then! I had been a Prince, a King for a while! What had I done wrong to ruin it all? King Poseidon, lord of the entire ocean. And my beautiful Queen Amphitrite had ruled beside me, as our three children were born. Ruled a kingdom so wonderful, only to have it snatched away. With the slash of swords and beatings of drums, my beautiful wife, Prince, Carmen, barely hatched Triton, and I were captured. For twenty days and twenty nights, we were taken to the seventh sea, the blood waters, as it was called. And left for dead among the skeletons. I had sworn to protect my family. And protect them I had! I had taken my family through the ancient underground system to another ocean, far from the war, closer to the humans. We had changed our names, created a new life and history. I had thought they would be safe there. But the war just grew until it got to close. So I went to war. I had to keep it from my family. I had to protect them. If only I hadn't been so focused on protecting them, I would have protected me. Then I wouldn't be here in the first place. I listened to every little prayer my Triton, my favourite child, sent me, beseeching me to protect me. If only he knew his father was Poseidon. Then he'd know I could do so little to protect myself, even with all the magic that flowed through my veins. Especially here.
But where was I?
I still wasn't sure. One moment I had been in battle, the next chained in an icy cell. I could only pray I was just a prisoner of war. No one knew my secret magical heritage. I sighed, as the bickering outside became louder.
"It has been to long already! It needs to be now!" the man insisted.
"Keep your voice down," the older man snapped. What could they possibly mean? I sighed, picturing Amphitrite, now Meredith, and my three beautiful children. Had those little triplets been born yet? Suddenly, the door swung open. I blinked in the blinking light from my dark freezing prison.
"Good morning, Poseidon," the older voice said as cold as the water around me. I feigned confusion, same as I always did after someone commented on how much I looked like the late King.
"W-w-what are you t-talking about?" I stuttered, shivering.
"Oh, Poseidon. Did you think removing your silly accessories would change who you are?" the voice snorted. I blinked as the light dimmed, and I saw who was there. The younger merman I did not recognize, but the older merman's face had haunted me for years.
"Please… no…" I pleaded, paralysed with fear.
"Pity pleading won't do you anything," he taunted, his black eye flashing with glee, "Tell me, where are the others?"
"Dead, they're dead," I lied.
"Lies!" he screamed, striking my face, "Where are they?"
"Dead!" I lied again, crying out with pain as he struck me again.
"They're not dead! Where are you hiding them?" he demanded. I shook my head, turning away from him.
"Where are they, you scum of royal blood?" the old merman picked me up and shook me hard, his face inches from my own.
"Dead!" I screamed in his face. He threw me across the room like a ragdoll, slamming into the icy wall. I felt the magic fade from my veins, taking me with it, as I drifted up and away. I looked down at my broken body, blood filling up the water. The older merman approached me, shaking me. I laughed as my heart ached with the pain of my losses. So much pain… and I could not stop laughing. Was this what it was to be driven mad? For now, I knew I had lost all sanity, just as I had lost my life there in my icy prison, taunted and tortured to death.
"What do I say, master?" the younger merman whimpered. He was as frightened as I had been.
"Say he was strangled by the ocean," the older merman spat. Then, I was gone, into the waves. I looked over my shoulder, to see a fair-haired, violet-tailed mermaid drifting beside me. I knew in my soul that she was mine. My own daughter, who had left her family too. However, she had not known them as I had, but she had still loved them, as her little unborn self. And I would teach her of them. I took the little baby in my arms, and cradled her.
"Attina," I whispered. She looked up at me, soft grey eyes curious. She had never hatched. I knew it. She was too small, did not speak or swim, and the little upturned crescent moon was deeper than I had ever seen it on a born baby. She hummed a little lullaby for me in her sweet voice. I drifted aimlessly for a while, staring at my little daughter, whose destiny was to accompany me in my after-life, not noticing where I was until I heard her.
"Hush-a-bye, hush-a-bye
Sea winds whisper a lullaby
Hush-a-bye, hush-a-bye
Sea winds whisper a lullaby."
Meredith. My Amphitrite. For I was now Poseidon, in my truest natural form. Midnight blue not just my shimmering tail, but from head to tail. I was a God. This was my family that I had to leave behind. I placed Attina in the bassinet with her sleeping sisters, and sat on shell that I had once shared with her. She tucked in our three little children so patiently, as they kissed her goodnight.
"Mama, I feel funny," Triton murmured.
"Me too," Carmen agreed softly.
"Me three," Prince agreed.
"I know, darlings. It is just one of those nights," she assured them. Little did she know it was because of me. My magic seeped from me and charged the water with my presence. She lay down unknowingly next to me. I wrapped my arm around her shoulder, and she turned to face me.
"Oh, Poseidon, how much I miss you," she whispered, "Come home soon. We need you."
My heart ached for her. If only she knew, I was there! But I would never be there the way they needed me to be. I softly sang to her.
"You're in my arms
And all the world is calm
The music is playing on for only two
So close together
And when I'm with you
So close to feeling alive
A life goes by
Romantic dreams will stop
So I bid mine goodbye and never knew
So close was waiting, waiting here with you
And now forever I know
All that I wanted to hold you
So close
So close to reaching that famous happy ending
Almost believing this was not pretend
And now you're beside me
And look how far we've come!
So far, we are so close
How could I face the faceless days
If I should lose you now?
We're so close
To reaching that famous happy ending
And almost believing this was not pretend
Let's go on dreaming for we know we are
So close, so close
And still so far."
I kissed her forehead and wrapped my arms around her. Attina called for me, and I closed my eyes. Magic, stronger than I had ever known it to be, surged through the water and carried my daughter to me and her living mother.
Poseidon? The ocean whispered around me, hissing into my ear.
"Yes?" I replied, closing my eyes.
It's time. You must leave them now.
"I can't leave them…" I murmured, my heart aching.
You have to leave them. It is time to serve your destiny.
"Will I ever see them again?"
Of course, and your daughter will come with you.
"Then I will go," I agreed. Cradling Attina close to my heart, I kissed my family goodbye, and left to the eighth sea where our destiny would begin.
AN: Quidam sings So Close by John McLaughlin and once again, Meredith sings Lullaby of the Sea by David Lundie.
